Birding / nature / photography ~ Older Asexuals for light walking and hiking nature adventures ~

[daveb]

Maybe they are "teenagers"/adolescents?

Cool pic.

[LVG]

Could they perhaps be whitetail fawns? They occur out west, though not as common as they are in east. I know that whitetail fawns can grow almost to full size before they fully lose their spots.  

[Muledeer]

20 hours ago, daveb said:

Maybe they are "teenagers"/adolescents?

Cool pic.

I think that is most likely what they are - just big fawns.  They must have been born early.   Also, the camera is mounted very low - about two feet off the ground and looking uphill, which may make these deer seem larger and more mature that they really are.

15 hours ago, LVG said:

Could they perhaps be whitetail fawns? They occur out west, though not as common as they are in east. I know that whitetail fawns can grow almost to full size before they fully lose their spots.  

We don't have white tail deer around here.  The dark marking on the forehead / face of the deer facing the camera is called a "mask" and it is one of the identifying features of mule deer.

[Blackthorn]

A juvenile robin visited my garden yesterday.  I hope it can make it one of its regular stops as I don't have a robin visitor at the moment. 

[SilverFlower]

On July 23, 2017 at 6:13 PM, Muledeer said:

  Hide contents

https://s1.postimg.org/n6jqhzhen/SUNP0033.jpg

So, I was confused when I first viewed this image because these animals appear to have the bodies of adult deer with the coloration of fawns.  I have never seen a spotted adult mule deer.  I even googled spotted mule deer and all I got were fawn images or people posting about how they "spotted" a mule deer.  What do you think, if you can view the link, do these deer look like fawns or adults dancing with each other in the middle of the night? 

 

 

Those look like Axis Deer which are the kind we have here in Hawaii.  They are slightly smaller than mainland deer and they keep their Bambi spots for life.  The original Axis Deer here were a gift to King Kamehameha from some British Raj viceroy or other and they came from India.  I have no idea what they might be doing in your neck of the woods.

[daveb]

1 hour ago, SilverFlower said:

Those look like Axis Deer which are the kind we have here in Hawaii.  They are slightly smaller than mainland deer and they keep their Bambi spots for life.  The original Axis Deer here were a gift to King Kamehameha from some British Raj viceroy or other and they came from India.  I have no idea what they might be doing in your neck of the woods.

I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be Axis Deer in his neck of the woods.

[SilverFlower]

Well they have some in Texas.  They even advertise hunting "safaris" there specifically for Axis Deer and there are also some in northern California.  Don't know how they could have gotten all the way to Wyoming.  I doubt they would have done it on their own but people could have helped.  Being native to nice warm India, I don't think they would wander that far north without a "push".

They are really considered pests here on Molokai.  You don't need a hunting license or a "tag" or anything here.  It's considered public service to go out and shoot one.  This ecosystem doesn't have any apex predators like mountain lions or coyotes so, if people don't cull the herd, the deer will take over and eat every last green leaf in sight.

 

[Muledeer]

34 minutes ago, SilverFlower said:

They are really considered pests here on Molokai.  You don't need a hunting license or a "tag" or anything here.  It's considered public service to go out and shoot one.  This ecosystem doesn't have any apex predators like mountain lions or coyotes so, if people don't cull the herd, the deer will take over and eat every last green leaf in sight.

 

Kind of like all the wild chickens on Kuwaii?

[Skycaptain]

Went to Framlingham in Suffolk today and had a long walk around various bits of woodland and heathland. We saw twenty one different butterflies and moths, including Graylings which I haven't seen for years, along with a muntjac deer, wrens, swallows, and martens. 

[SilverFlower]

On July 26, 2017 at 2:03 PM, Muledeer said:

Kind of like all the wild chickens on Kuwaii?

Yep.  Molokai has a large feral cat population which I think helps keep the feral chicken population in check.  These are the "unintended consequences" of introducing non-native species.

My dog is a very well trained and well behaved service dog but when we went to Kauaii last year he was being tormented by all the chickens basically coming up to him and saying, "Neener, neener, neener!".  It was driving him out of his little canine brain.  I had to let him off leash to go chase one at least once a day just to get it out of his system.

[Myssterry]

Families of blackcaps are visitng the garden to gorge on elderberries before their migration.

 

I found three giant puff ball mushrooms in the garden.

 

 

Not my pic - thank you Photobucket - but I had one identical to this.  They are edible, but I won't be indulging.

[Skycaptain]

They are tasty, just you'll be fed up with it before it's all gone 

[Blackthorn]

Fledgling Dunnock and parent spotted in the garden today.  Robin is still visiting several times a day.

[Myssterry]

I took a walk round the lake in the park yesterday, after a sad time.  When I got to the little bridge over the river, about a dozen Beautiful Damselflies were flitting about over the water.  They were mostly males and stunning.  They live up to their name.  

 

Not my pic, this shows their amazing jewel-like beauty.

 

[LVG]

I had two close encounters with deer today. 

[Tja]

18 minutes ago, LVG said:

I had two close encounters with deer today. 

Hope it wasn't while driving you car! 

[teatree]

I saw two deer on someone's front lawn tonight. At first I thought they were just lawn ornaments, but then they moved!

[Tja]

9 hours ago, teatree said:

I saw two deer on someone's front lawn tonight. At first I thought they were just lawn ornaments, but then they moved!

Pinocchio syndrome, perhaps?

[LVG]

On 8/2/2017 at 5:53 PM, Tja said:

Hope it wasn't while driving you car! 

Nope. The first one I came upon while in a client's backyard. The other walked past my work truck while I was having a lunch break.

 

I had two fawns walk across the road while driving to work this morning. I also watched a couple of hummingbirds crash each other away from feeders. They're such territorial little things. 

[Autumn Sunrise]

A couple of days ago, when I was scattering food for the chickens I noticed a little bird on the fringe of the flock, sharing their food. It looked like a young Noisy Miner; I'd never seen one that close-up before, and I didn't realise what pretty markings they have. It was there again yesterday (I don't know about this morning because my daughter fed the chickens), and I'm wondering what might be the chances of (semi) taming a Noisy Miner  I've certainly never seen one come so close before; they usually move around in flocks, and all take off together if they see anyone coming.

 

The daffodils are coming out all over the place. They make beautiful splashes of colour dancing in the icy wind we've been having in the last few days. (Apparently, July in many parts of Australia, including where I live, has been unusually warm, but August seems set to make up for it!)

[daveb]

3 hours ago, Autumn Sunrise said:

Noisy Miner 

Looks like a cool bird (but sounds like they can be destructive).

[teatree]

Yesterday morning while out walking the dogs, a red fox trotted up from a side street--at first I thought it was a lanky dog but then it turned to look at me. Both the fox and i were startled to see each other! It took off running in the opposite direction, while my dogs never reacted. Considering I live in a residential neighborhood and I have seen only one fox before (and that was years ago, when I was walking on a woods trail), i was pretty excited! 

[Skycaptain]

Courtesy of (technically now illegal foxhunting in the country, and our late night fast food culture, I get the impression that foxes in Britain are now more of an urban species than a rural species 

[LVG]

Foxes in Britain are comparable to raccoons in North America in terms of their adaptation to urban life. 

[Piotrek]

Yesteday I took a brief walk in the nearby park. Photos of the place (not mine) can be found here: http://www.palmiarnia.poznan.pl/pl/park-wilsona-w-poznaniu

Interestingly, the park also hosts a palmhouse and .... a WWII-era bomb shelter (see http://www.palmiarnia.poznan.pl/pl/schron-w-parku-wilsona )I haven't been to the former for 10+ years, I think. I saw the shelter 3 or 4 years ago.

[Muledeer]

8 hours ago, Piotrek said:

Yesteday I took a brief walk in the nearby park. Photos of the place (not mine) can be found here: http://www.palmiarnia.poznan.pl/pl/park-wilsona-w-poznaniu

Interestingly, the park also hosts a palmhouse and .... a WWII-era bomb shelter (see http://www.palmiarnia.poznan.pl/pl/schron-w-parku-wilsona )I haven't been to the former for 10+ years, I think. I saw the shelter 3 or 4 years ago.

Well, that was a pretty nice tour of your park, and Google even translated it into English for me.  I have never heard of a palmhouse before.

[Piotrek]

BY the way, the website I linked also has the English-language version. Just click at the British flag icon.

 

@Muledeer

Whenever I mention this place when writing in a foreign language I always wonder whether people will be familiar with the word, or should I rather explain the concept.

[Autumn Sunrise]

On 7 August 2017 at 3:50 AM, Skycaptain said:

Courtesy of (technically now illegal foxhunting in the country, and our late night fast food culture, I get the impression that foxes in Britain are now more of an urban species than a rural species 

Urban or suburban, @Skycaptain, it's similar here. Foxes have become quite common in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, where there is a series of townships much like a string of suburbs. Foxes seem to hang around built-up areas, probably because food is readily available, and also because many people keep a few backyard chickens. A few years ago I was out walking around 5pm and saw a fox at the end of a dead-end street, just sitting in the middle of the road and obviously waiting for something. I think one of the residents was feeding it!

 

Our daffodils are coming out now and looking very spring-like. It's sunny and (almost) warm today, but the last few days have been blustery and chilly. Yesterday I heard that there were snow flurries in some nearby townships, but not at our place.

 

Something to make you laugh: Sunrise trying to open the sturdy rural-type latch on the chicken-field gate, walk through the gate and re-latch it without allowing any of the chickens to escape, while carrying five newly laid eggs - three in one hand and two in the other, with a large wicker crate hanging from one finger  No chickens managed to leave the field, and the eggs made it unbroken back to the house - phew!

[daveb]

Saw a few whales yesterday (but not like the big pictures you see in photos and insurance company adverts and such).

[Tystie]

My garden seems to have been home to more wildlife than usual this year. That, or I've been paying more attention! I have a regular hedgehog visitor, and I've noticed that the number of slugs in the garden is vastly reduced as a result. I've also got a pair of great spotted woodpeckers that have become regular visitors to the bird feeders. Delightful.

 

I have a regular flock of house sparrows, including lots of juveniles, that come to feed, too. I've counted about twenty of them. Delightful. I've also had juvenile blue tits, great tits, siskins, starlings, robins and gold finches.

 

I saw my first ripe blackberries yesterday! I was shocked. There were about half a dozen ripe berries, and I thought, no! You're at least a month to early! It's not autumn yet! Then, as I drove home, I noticed that the leaves on the local horse chestnuts are beginning to change colour. Oh, dear. I want more summer.